Going to the source

Eager shoppers started arriving Monday as workers inside the new thrift store hung T-shirts on racks, arranged shoes by color and stuck prices on pots and pans.

Eager shoppers started arriving Monday as workers inside the new thrift store hung T-shirts on racks, arranged shoes by color and stuck prices on pots and pans.

"Come back Thursday," the workers said. "That's when we open."

Today, the early birds will be back as the first Goodwill store in Dublin opens its doors at 9:30 a.m. at 6665 Sawmill Rd. Goodwill workers hope that donors will flock there, too.

As the economy sours, thrift stores become an attractive alternative to regular retail.

But at the same time, donations of used merchandise -- to stock the stores -- have fallen off as strapped central Ohioans keep clothes and household goods longer.

That's a major reason why Goodwill opened a store in Dublin.

"Research shows you should put stores where you can get donations," said Shanda Arthurs, Goodwill's vice president of human resources and retail operations in Columbus. "Shoppers will find you."

The 9,400-square-foot store is the fourth Goodwill in Franklin County. Brightly lighted and decorated to look like a big-box discount store, clothes are on hangers, shoes on giant racks, and purses and backpacks on hooks.

Rack signs give prices, ranging from $1.49 for infant clothes to $12.99 for women's suits. Blue-and-teal hanging signs help shoppers find what they're looking for; one section, Career Closet, has business clothes for women.

Poster-size photos on the walls tell the story of the group's mission: to help people with disabilities.

Donations already have come in, Arthurs said. Until a side door is built, donations will be taken at the front of the store.

Don Markelonis, retail operations director for Volunteers of America of Greater Ohio, said donations for that organization's 11 stores have decreased in quality as well as quantity. "I suspect people are waiting an extra six months, for example, to buy a new television," he said.

Patti Carter, supervisor of the four Columbus Salvation Army thrift stores, has seen the same trend. But what none of the staffers at the three thrift chains has seen is an increase in middle-class customers.

"Some people just can't bring themselves to that level," Carter said. "It's a societal thing. Some people will go to a Wal-Mart before they'll go to a thrift store."

She expects that to change if the economy stays in the dumps.

And she's hoping donations will pick up as people clean out closets and switch from spring to summer clothes in June.

"Everything I wear is Salvation Army," Carter said. "Some people are embarrassed by that, but I'll tell anyone."

For more information, go to www.goodwillcolumbus.org, www.salvationarmycolumbus.org or www.voago.org.